


Hear My Words That I Might Teach You

by Anonymous



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: 20th century injustice, Article style, Death spoken of, Drug Use Mentioned, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:47:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26455117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Korra Ashoona interviews, Aang Ngapoi, famous frontman of the 70s and 80s band, Avatar.Article style
Relationships: Aang/Toph Beifong, Jet/Katara (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar), Sokka/Yue (Avatar)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 61
Collections: Anonymous





	Hear My Words That I Might Teach You

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, I wanted to do a proper fic with this, but that would be like twenty chapters, and I don’t have time for that, so take this weird article fic hybrid. I might do drabbles in this world sometime, so be on the lookout.
> 
> I have posted art for this au on my tumblr, ourgraciousqueen.
> 
> The fic title is from, Sound of Silence, by Simon and Garfunkel.

**Avatar: The Legends, the People**

**_By Korra Arnook_ **

**_5.10.2020_ **

It’s a quiet rainy morning the day I met Aang Ngapoi, former frontman of the iconic band _Avatar_ , in his countryside home outside Dublin.

Aang is an icon in the world of music and social justice, along with his bandmates, Katara Kuruk Sozin, Sokka Kuruk, Zuko Sozin, Toph Beifong, and Suki Choi. The group was famously tailed by President Nixon in the seventies for speaking out against the Vietnam War, Residential Schools, and US Imperialism. They often spoke against the American and Canadian governments in general, leading to them making enemies in high places.

The band emerged on the music scene in 1970, with their first hit single, _Frozen_. It was followed by their critically acclaimed debut album, _Water_. Their music quickly became a favourite of hippies and counter culture fanatics, leading to major popularity.

At the time though, only Aang, Katara, and Sokka were band members. The trio had met shortly after Aang had arrived in the States after fleeing Tibet hidden in a boat. Chinese overlords had killed his guardian, a Buddhist monk named Gyatso, and he had nowhere else to run.

Katara and Sokka were also new arrivals to the country. Their origins are in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada, where they lived until the ages of five and seven respectively, before they were forced from their home by the government, and placed in a Residential School. Their mother, Kya, was infamously killed in the struggle for the children by government men. This horrific event was immortalized in the _Avatar_ song, _They Stole Us._ The song was banned for many years in Canada, up until 1997.

The Kuruk siblings survived the horrors of their Residential School until the age of fourteen and sixteen, when they escaped the school, and fled home. They stayed for a only a few days, fearing they’d be caught, and left with relatives for Yellowknife, stowed away in their truck.

Their stay was brief in Yellowknife as well, but this is were Sokka would meet his future first wife, Yue Ashoona, an Inuk prodigy painter. Scandalously to her family, Yue left with them upon their decision to drive to Vancouver. The couple married in 1970, and were married four years before her death from colon cancer at age twenty-three. They had no children.

During their one year stay in Vancouver, the Kuruk siblings were introduced to the 70s rock band, _The Freedom Fighters,_ before they hit the big time. Jet Blackstalk, the band’s frontman, quickly invited them to join after he spotted the siblings singing on the side of the road for cash.

Katara and Jet had a whirlwind romance, and each were the inspiration for a song about the other. For Katara, she was basis of two of _The Freedom Fights_ best known songs, _Lady Blue_ , and _She’s Gone._ Jet was infamously the reason behind the song, _Fool Me Twice_. _Avatar_ stopped preforming the song after Jet’s death of an overdose in 77’.

After catching Jet cheating several times, and a devastating miscarriage, Katara left Jet, and the Kuruks left _The Freedom Fighters_. They then crossed the border to the US, and traveled around until they reached New York, where they met fresh off the boat, fifteen year old Aang.

They quickly found out about the others’ musical talent, especially Aang, who can play anything if he sees someone else play it first. They quickly formed _Avatar_ , and moved into an apartment together.

On this time in his life, Aang remembers it with a fond smile. “Katara and Sokka saved me. I had nothing. I was dirt poor, and had escaped Tibet by the skin of my teeth. I had no credentials, I was lucky to get a job cleaning floors. Then they pulled me into their lives, then into the band, and suddenly I had purpose.”

The trio quickly commenced working on an album, and once it was complete, auditioned for Roku Records. They were quickly signed on, even though a band with a Tibetan and two Indigenous siblings was unheard of, and extremely risky. _Water_ was recorded in six months, and was a folk only album. Aang famously played every instrument heard on it, minus the acoustic parts done by Sokka.

As amazing as this feat was, it made it hard for the band to play live once their music hit the airwaves, and they quickly became a huge success. They searched high and low for a drummer, eventually settling on Toph Beifong, a blind Korean teen who had runaway from her old money family in Seoul, in the search for independence.

Aang was the first to meet Toph, hearing her play at a club that she definitely was too young to be at. He introduced himself and convinced her to meet Sokka and Katara, and she was soon _Avatar’s_ new drummer.

“It was an... _adjustment_ when Toph first joined. She was talented, no doubt, but she butted heads with Katara a lot. Katara thought we should play folk all day everyday, and Toph wanted to smash the drums so hard you might go deaf in one ear. It took awhile, but they reached an accord, and eventually became friends. I think Toph really helped shift the band in the right direction.” Aang states while he points out a photo on the wall. Toph and his’s wedding photo.

“Toph came up with the drum beat for _Sweet and Lonely_ on our honeymoon. She feels and hears music different then the rest of us. She says it’s like it becomes one with her. A second limb. I don’t think we’d have done the things we did as a group without her.”

The album released their second album, _Earth_ , with Toph on the drums in 1972, to critical and commercial success. They quickly went on tour following its release, but Sokka left partway to be with Yue following her cancer diagnosis.

The band was left a guitarist short, and though Aang could play the guitar in his place, they needed someone to play the bass guitar in Sokka’s absence. They scrambled before meeting Suki Choi, former bassist for, _The Kyoshi Warriors_ , and Korean War refugee, at an New York concert. Her band had recently disbanded over creative differences, and she was looking for work.

After hearing her play, Suki was signed on for the tour, and eventually became a permanent band member.

The band didn’t release new music until 1976, following a hiatus caused by Yue’s illness and eventual death. In that time Katara met, Zuko Sozin, in a bar in Hawaii where he was playing. She was quickly taken with his sound, and on the belief that Sokka may never return to the band, invited him to come to LA with her, and play for them.

Zuko, an introvert by nature, hesitantly agreed. Aang says during his first meeting with the band, that Zuko looked ready to pass out at any moment, but he played and sang with vigour, and that they all knew he’d be perfect.

Zuko was at the time, a Japanese-Chinese discharged soldier who had left Kyoto in search for his mom, Ursa Chen, after being badly burned in a failed training exercise. Ursa, a Manchuria native had been brought to Japan by the infamous Commander, Ozai Sozin, following the fall of the Japanese Puppet State Manchukuo. They married and had two children, one being Zuko, and his younger sister, Azula, a high ranking judge.

Ursa left Ozai in the sixties after he nearly beat her to death. He allowed her to go, but kept their children, and she was forced to leave Japan.

Zuko believed his mother had fled to the States, which was his reason to leave Japan, after his life fell apart, and he left his first wife, Mai, and family behind.

Once Zuko was apart of _Avatar_ , he hired a private detective and found Ursa in Seattle, working as a seamstress. Mother and son reunited, and he brought her back to LA with him. She lived with him until her death in 2006.

His joy was short lived however, for after a London show a few months later, Zuko was informed by his sister that he had a daughter. His now ex wife Mai, had been pregnant when he left, but never told him. His daughter, Izumi, was a year old, and the future lead singer of the punk rock band, _Fire Lord_.

Sokka had rejoined the band by this point, and took over for Zuko when he flew back to Japan. A fierce custody battle commenced, but eventually Zuko won, as it was proven Mai was unemployed, and lacked the funds to care for Izumi after her father’s death.

Aang states that that time period was chaos. “We were trying to finish our third album _Fire_ , and while we all understood why Zuko wasn’t there liked he needed or wanted to be, the record company wasn’t having it. They wanted us to drop him. He hadn’t even been on a record yet, so they said no one would miss him.” Aang chuckles. “Katara didn’t like that. She stormed up to the CEO, and said if they didn’t want Zuko, they wouldn’t get the rest of us. They relented, and I think were pleased in the end. _Fire_ was completed on time, and a success, with a big thanks being to Zuko’s song, _This Isn’t What I Want_ , which was written because of the craziness in his life.”

A year later Katara and Zuko were dating, and Sokka married Suki, who he had stared to date a year and a half prior. Toph and Aang would commence a relationship in 1978, with the release of _Air_ , the last album in _Avatar’s_ Elemental Quartet.

The band continued creating music together into the mid eighties, before disbanding after the release of their last album, _Up In The Air_ , to their fans’ distress. Each member stated they had simply outgrew the band, that there was no big fallout, and Aang stands by this.

“We all grew up. We were married with kids, and though we still loved music and each other, we were ready to move on. To do our own things. _Avatar_ had run its course.”

Katara continued to release music into the nineties and new millennia with Zuko, under the band name, _Eclipse_. Aang has also released five albums since the end of _Avatar_ , with Toph always playing the drums.

Sokka and Suki have officially left the music scene, spending their time being political activists, and running several homeless shelters in California.

In this year of 2020, the band celebrates fifty years since the release of _Water_. The group is planning for a reunion tour late next year with all members.

“This is it though.” Aang states with a grin. “Maybe some reunion performances to mark milestones in the future, but this is the last time we’ll be touring. We’re too old.” He chuckles to himself with a cheeky grin.

Icons of the seventies and eighties, _Avatar_ is a staple of rebellion against the government and injustice, and a symbol of America’s counter cultural. Their lyrics still resonate today, and inspire millions across the world.

As Toph Beifong famously said in a seedy bar to then newbie reporter, Tonraq Arnook, “It’s fucking awesome. We’re fucking awesome. _Avatar’s_ gonna live forever! The government can’t shut us down. The kids, they need us. They love us. You can’t kill love and good music. You can’t kill the fight for justice.”


End file.
